At 77,
George Takei is as active in social media as the average teenager. Regardless
of whether you follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook, he is probably
somewhere in your social media feed right now. Someone you know has shared or retweeted
something of his, either a humorous comment or an article link or one of those
annoying, captioned picture internet memes that sometimes get people in trouble.
Takei’s ability to become a constant fixture for a younger crowd while maintaining
cult status for older generations is one of the topics discussed in
director Jennifer M. Kroot’s fun and informative “To Be Takei.”

“To Be
Takei” is a conventional documentary, but by no means a bad one. The requisite
talking heads footage and media clips are assembled into a good narrative structure
by Kroot and editor Bill Weber. The 94-minute running time moves briskly, and some
of the details presented have an unexpected emotional heft. For those who only
know Takei as Sulu in the original Star Trek TV series and its movies,
“To Be Takei” offers some startling details about the actor and activist.

The first
three or so minutes play like a preview for familiar George Takei details that the
film will tackle later. Howard Stern appears to complain about shooting footage
for his announcer Takei’s documentary. The USS Enterprise makes a cartoony
entrance in the opening credits, beaming the Takei family down to Earth. A
commercial for Sony featuring Takei appears on his TV screen, culminating with
the ad’s pitchman uttering his well-known catchphrase, “Oh my.” And Takei laughs his famous laugh for the
first of many times it will be heard in “To Be Takei.”

“The name of
this movie should be ‘George Takei: Normalcy’,” states Brad Takei, George’s
husband and business partner. They are power-walking down their block, talking
and bickering like the old married couple that they are. Kroot’s camera
maintains an intimate, though safe, distance as the duo addresses themselves and
us. Their relationship subscribes to the old adage that opposites attract.
George is very laid back, and Brad is, according to George, “a lot more
cautious and pessimistic.”

“He’s a
nervous wreck, and he knows it,” says George. “I asked him why he’s with me
when I make him so…nervous,” he continues with a laugh before pointing out how
Brad’s organizational skills are an invaluable contribution to their business
relationship. Footage of Brad in action, competently handling the minutiae of
his celebrity husband’s event-filled days, compliment the more emotional,
self-described “temper tantrums” we occasionally see onscreen. At autograph
signing events and Star Trek conventions, Brad keeps the line moving, funneling
details to George before he speaks to the next fan.

Any mention
of the original "Star Trek" series is bound to be accompanied by an appearance
from Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner. His interview with Kroot, along
with footage of Takei roasting Shatner on Comedy Central reveal an antagonism
between the two that has apparently lasted throughout three seasons of the TV show, six movies and five decades. Passing a billboard with an ad for Shatner’s
now-defunct “S—t My Dad Says” TV series, Takei points out that Shatner’s “mouth
is covered, as well it should be.”

Though "Star
Trek" plays a large role in “To Be Takei,” It’s not the film’s main focus. While
there are interviews with Walter “Chekhov” Koenig and a silver-haired Nichelle “Uhura”
Nichols, this is less Trek-oriented than one might expect, though it is used as
a jumping-off point for several other topics. Trek’s creator, Gene Roddenberry,
hired Nichols and Takei to show a diversity onscreen that did not exist in
1966. Takei’s Sulu, who would eventually become captain of his own ship in “Star
Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country,” made an impression on viewers, especially those of Asian descent. Actors
like John Cho and Lea Salonga explain how seeing an Asian person onscreen in a
positive role influenced them.

“To Be Takei”
doesn’t shy away from contradictions in Takei’s long life and career. The film highlights
Sulu, but it doesn’t ignore the more stereotypical characters George Takei was
advised to play by his agents after NBC cancelled the original "Star Trek" series.
There are cringe-inducing clips of Jerry Lewis movies and TV cop shows, and
Takei appears onscreen to apologize for them. There is also audio of Takei’s first
appearance on Howard Stern’s show, where the now very active gay rights
activist denies his homosexuality. Stating that he did it for career purposes,
Takei connects his stereotypical acting roles with his days of being publicly
closeted. Rejecting both allowed him to present a totally positive and accurate
representation of himself in every venue in which he appeared.

“To Be Takei”
also powerfully covers Takei’s childhood spent in a Japanese-American internment camp
during World War II. Over footage of the camps, George narrates how his and
other middle-class Asian immigrant families lost their farms and businesses when
FDR issued Executive Order 9066. Takei speaks of wounding his father deeply by
blaming him for not standing up to the government. Takei channels his pain and
regret into his current role in “Allegiance,” a musical/memory play about the
camps and the aftereffects they had on future generations.

The day I
screened this film, my RogerEbert.com colleague and friend Scott Jordan Harris—an
activist himself—penned a piece on a meme George Takei posted to his followers.
The meme presented misinformation about the abilities of people who used
wheelchairs in an attempt to score laughs. Harris pointed out that the person
in the picture didn’t deserve mockery because, for starters, some
wheelchair-bound people can stand and/or walk short distances. After an initial
“it’s only a joke”-style response, Takei issued a second one apologizing for
the meme, citing that he was unaware that not everyone in a wheelchair lacked
mobility. He also spoke to the followers who vehemently claimed he didn’t have
to apologize to anyone, citing that, as an adult, he had the final say on his
acts of contrition.

Social media
apologies are practically a cottage industry nowadays, and they usually ring
false as a result of appearing forced. The portrayal of George Takei in “To Be
Takei” made me reconsider my usual cynicism about celebrity mea culpas, at
least in his case. Conventional documentary or not, I got something of positive
value and insight out of “To Be Takei.”

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